


Forging Glass

by Teleportation_Magic



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti-Sokovia Accords, Clint adopts Wanda, Clint tells stories, Complete, Deaf Clint Barton, Dissociation, Gen, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, Hurt/Comfort, I mean, Irony, Mental Health Issues, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Sam helps people, Shuri Is a Good Bro, Slightly unreliable narrator, Storytime with Clint, T'Challa Is a Good Bro, The Raft, Therapy, Wanda Maximoff-centric, and needs oversight from SOMEONE, is inhumane, that shoulda been canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-01-04 15:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18346265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teleportation_Magic/pseuds/Teleportation_Magic
Summary: Wanda, Clint, Sam, and Scott are stuck in the Raft.Steve gets waylaid.Wanda doesn't cope.Previously titled "Lost"





	1. Chapter 1

It was silent. 

She could hear the recesses of Stark's footprints, echoing against the cold steel walls, far outside her mind. It might have been days since he'd left. It might have been hours. She doesn't move, doesn't breathe -  _stayquietstayquietstayquiet -_ And she sits. Clint reaches - she placed a bit of the red in him, she'd asked him, she'd done the same with Peitro, when he was here, so that she would be able to speak with him through the walls of the Hydra facility. She hadn't thought that the red in Clint would have to serve the same purpose. 

_Wanda, Wanda, you alright?_

_Yes._

_Okay._ It was a game they played. Were playing. You lie. I lie. 

_Let me tell you a small story. So there was this mission - It was a while back, before Lila was born, but after Coop was- and me and Nat were charged with getting into the home of some rich American heiress. SHIELD discovered she had HYDRA links, and Fury wanted us to grab some of the info she was holding for 'em. So we're inside, and we're sneaking up into her office - and she had a ridiculously large home, you know? - and we're turning the corner and one of her family member's there, and well, she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Now usually that'd be a problem - attracts too much attention - so to try and avoid that, well, we were in nanny's outfits and I made an educated guess. She, she was holding a tiny baby, and it was this small, gorgeous thing, and he had a tiny lil button nose, and he was wearing this ridiculous suit. And he bursts into tears._

_You have a thing about babies._

_I do not have a thing about babies._

_You gave me a long, long summery of this kid who you've met once. Maybe six years ago._

_Four! Four years! Anyways, the woman holding him looks like she hasn't slept in a week, and she's barely keeping her eyes open. I think I saw a tear or two. So being the gentleman, that I am, I took the kid, and tried to calm him down. She kinda froze, and I kinda panicked, before he wailed, so I did the only reasonable thing that I could, and looked in my pockets. Lo and behold! there was a pacifier there. I was so relieved. So I plop the thing in the kid's mouth, and he calms down almost instantly._

_Clint, how did you know Coop hadn't used it? And why did you have a pacifier on you when you were an a mission?_

_Hush Wanda. Hush. I don't answer those kind of questions. So, Nat's looking like me with murder in the eyes, the woman's still frozen, Mr. Baby's calming down, and I think none of us know what to do in this situation. So the women just bursts into tears. Nat glares at me - and Wanda, I promise you, you do not want to be glared at by Natasha, I think I almost died - and she turns to the woman, and starts telling her that we're the new nannies, that she's free to take a break. She hugs Nat - and Natasha looks like she's about to have a panic attack. So she almost jerks away, before remembering the mission, and jerking back. So she pats the women on the back - I swear she was timing the seconds between each tap - before trying to twist away. Finally, she lets go, and leaves us._

_We're agents with over ten years of experience, but I'm still cooing over Mr. Baby, and Nat looks like she wants to murder someone. She grabs my hand, and we go together. She tells me to sit tight - I'm babysitting, while she does the "important work" - and while I'm holding the kid, she manages to get the info in less then ten minutes. But we can't just leave the kid - we gotta wait until the babysitter comes back. So we're sitting there and - Wanda!_

There's an arm around her. She knows not to move -  _don'tmovedon'tbreathedon'tspeaksafesafesafesafe -_ and she doesn't resist. One of the buckles scraps over her chest - she lets out a soft noise - before white floods her mind, and there's pain and there's nothing more, and thinking hurts and breathing hurts, and she's begging "Please, please make it stop!" but nobody is listening to her, and they pull her into a chair, and finally, finally they stop. She's limp as they take her blood, and limp when they pump things into her, and she can feel her red trying to get it out - it doesn't like foreign things within her body. A tiny speck - a wisp, a spark, a stray piece of her - is visible for half of half a moment. And then the collar  burns, and her neck is on fire, and she cannot even ask for help, because it doesn't no good, it is as if her voice has been cut out, as if she is nothing more that an amalgamation of limbs, loosely held together, and she is nothing, nothing, nothing - and it stops.

She doesn't dare breathe, doesn't dare move, but she reaches. Clint is there, and he brings her close, and she's so close to his mind. She feels rather than sees a room bloom to life across her mind, a small room, with stuff strewn about. A small dartboard is on the back, with a table in the middle and the sofa near the back. She collapses onto it, and places her head back. Clint grabs a blanket and they sit. It is safe and it is warm, and she is content. She knows it isn't real, but she will take it, take this comfort. And Clint is real, sitting next to her, making sure she doesn't fall apart. They sit quietly.

_We'll be alright Wanda._

The next time, it's Clint. They grab him, before dragging him out. He twists, and a well aimed punch from one of the guards sends him to the ground. Wanda flinches, and no, no someone saw - and she's screaming, and she's bucking up and down, and she can't move, her limbs are trapped and she's jerking around as the white, lancing  _pain_ bursts through her, and she doesn't know what to do, she doesn't know what they want. Finally, finally, it cuts out. She sags against the wall, and doesn't move. She waits, waits for Clint to come back. He will be fine. 

Later, someone comes in. They have a tray of something on it, and he takes the spoon, and shoves it into her mouth. He holds a single finger over the trigger for the collar the whole time. 

After, Clint comes back. His face has more bruises on it, but he's back. She reaches for the speck of red that she doesn't need her hands for, that she can use as an anchor. 

They sit in a fake house, their eyes closed, with a dream etched across their minds. 

She thinks she will break.

Hours pass, before a bell rings out, and the trays pop up. Eyes closed, she hears the echo of boots against the cold, hard floor and someone crouching down besides her. She opens her mouth, and chews. Open, chew. Open, chew. Open, chew. Once its all gone, he places the tray away, before locking the door behind him. She sits. She doesn't know how much time has passes. She opens her eyes, and sees Clint sitting, head back, looking up at nothing. 

She reaches, but before she can go into their room, she feels a thought float off of him  _Wanda, I'm sorry, I need a minute. Just a minute. Please._

Wanda waits in silence. It scares her, sometimes, that one of them will crack. Clint's precious to her, to the kids and Laura, and she doesn't want him to leave to somewhere she cannot find him. She refuses to lose more. But what if they break? What if their minds sweep away any sanity they have, leaving husks, and dirt, and empty rooms? Wanda doesn't know what she'll do. Wanda... is scared.

What about her powers? She knows her control is weak, what if they hurt people in her confusion, her rage, or her sorrow?

Wanda doesn't know what to do. She's so afraid. She doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore. She doesn't. She's spilled enough blood. She feels some sparking scarlet, and  _no no no_ White courses over her. 

"Please stop, please stop, please I'll do anything, just stop, stop, stop, please, please!"

"Stop screaming!" The guard is snarling at her, finger on the trigger "Shut up!"

Clint is banging on his bars but she can't tell him to stop, that he's making it worse. She's just scraming and screaming, and screaming, before she manages to tuck one lip in between her teeth.

Wanda bites her lips closed, and prays  _Letitstopletitstopletitstoppleaseplease_ and it finally, finally, it does. She allows her limbs to relax slowly, allows her head to tilt back against the wall, so slowly, it they don't notice (or care).

There's tapping. Clint is tapping on his bars. It's slight, its quiet, and she doesn't think the guard hears. It's there, the rhythmic tapping, that sinks into her bones and wakes something in her up. She reaches, and walks back into the room. 

Clint hugs her.

She sits besides him. He talks but she doesn't respond - the thought of speaking makes a bolt of panic spike in her. He stops, before guiding her hands towards him.  _Wanda, do you know that I lost my hearing when I was... oh, about twelve?_

Wanda doesn't know what to say. She's seen the contraptions on his ears - he always complained about not being able to find them at the barn. Laura'd roll her eyes at him, before grabbing them and dropping them into his outstretched hands. Cooper'd always snigger. Lila'd giggle. Nathaniel would clap his fingers, before looking around the room.

_Well, I used to be a circus act - an archer, obviously. I discovered a secret of one of my bosses - and it didn't go very well. He thrashed me, and a certain hit to the head made me go almost entirely deaf. I couldn't get aids for a years - they were expensive, and I didn't have the money. So I had to learn how to use sign language - basically talking with my hands. Took me a year, but by the end I had it down. It was super useful on missions - just tuck away my aids and bam! I'm deaf, and disguised, and can sneak information through my signs. It was glorious. Do you know my favorite part about that?_

Wanda thinks for a moment, before shaking her head. She is tired. So very, very tired. 

 _He thought he would make me weaker, but I took that, took what he gave me, and made it my strength. I was lucky._ He pauses for a bit.  _Do you want me to tell you a story?_

She shakes her head, before changing her mind and nodding. 

_Do you want me to continue the old one?_

She thinks, before nodding, once, twice.

_Okay. So the baby. We looked around, before finding a baby room - it had a beautiful blue carpet, with adorable curtain. Wanda, those curtains were to die for. I almost stole 'em. Nat was still looking out, but we couldn't leave the kid alone - for all we knew, it might turn over, and choke. So we waited. And waited. For hours. Fury had hacked into my hearing aids, and he was screaming into my ear - something about how he wanted me to jump ship immediately, but I couldn't tell him that I had a kid, cause we didn't have comms. Finally, the actually nanny returned, and we left. Nat sat, and smirked at me, while Fury read me the riot act. They actually suspended me for a while, before I was let back on missions again. That sucked. Laura was pissed cause she thought I broke my finger while using the hammer to build a coffee table. It actually turned out pretty nice. Laura likes to scare the kids sometimes, and she'll say that my blood's on it._

Wanda tucks her head on Clint's shoulder, as he rambles on and on about the projects he has going on at his home. She knows about a couple - Cooper had complained about the noise of Clint's work, and how he'd hated helping - Wanda saw him ask his dad sometimes to help out. Lila was the same, but she tended to compete with her brother when they worked together. This had led to them not being allowed to work together. They'd been upset, before Lila huffed at Cooper, and he rolled his eyes at her.

Wanda allowed herself to get lost in the memories, as she fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new story! Yay! I have most of it written up already, so I'll try to get updates out once or twice a week.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda chats with Sam, and things get much much worse. But she has a half moment of things being better.

The next morning is more of the same. She's fed, before they take her away to The Room. She comes back, and sits in the silence. Eventually Clint leaves, but not before he tells her _Try to talk with the others. Sam especially. It'll help._

She looked up blankly, before turning away. It would be impossible, eve if she wanted to. 

_When they drag you away tomorrow. You might be able to sneak them a bit of red. Remember to ask before entering._

She thinks about it. Does she want to talk to the others? Scott, who said she was great, Sam, who Clint recommended? What if she was caught? was it worth it?

She sits besides Clint, and thinks about it. They're on the rug now. It's a worn, patchy thing, with scars on the side from when someone had pulled threads of it out. Clint had gotten the actual rug replaced, but the old one was sitting here. When they slept, it was on the patchy, old, thrown out rug. When she was dragged away, for half of half a moment, she threw a tiny bit of her red to Sam - just enough that the guards wouldn't see, enough that he would find it on his clothes. She was strapped to the chair, and she heard someone start "Ms. Maximoff, I need you to find something in this young man's head" 

She turns, and sees a chained person there. She doesn't know who it is. She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to peer inside his head. She feels the collar start, the telltale buzz run through her, feels the red scream inside of her wanting release, release, release. She'd given it a taste, but her scarlet wasn't sated, wasn't by far, and it wanted more, and more, and more. She doesn't scream though. Her red screams, but she just hangs there, too afraid to make so much a sound. She doesn't know up from down, all that's there is the white cackling energy flooding her body, and she can barely think

and then

her red acts. 

It is angry, like a kicked hornet's nest, and it pulses through her, and she feels relief. Whatever her red has done, it has stopped the electricity from flowing through her veins, stopped the itchy feeling under her skin, and she can breath. She looks up, into the man's eyes. She won't have her will bent. Not today, not again, not by them. She knows it wants to run out, and she doesn't know if she's talking about herself, the other prisoner, or the red, but they are all too scared. Too scared of the men, of the monsters, standing behind her. She is scared, yes. But, she had used her fear. And there is a small victory there. 

They test her, prod at her, torture her. But her red is there, crackling through her veins, not a drop on her skin, and she is somewhat fine. And they do not force her into the boy's head. She sees their faces, fear immortalized there, and she doesn't know what she feels. Happy that they are afraid? Sad that there is no other way that they'll see her? Scared that the abuse will worsen? The three mix awfully within her. 

When she leaves, screams echo around her. He tells them nothing. His screams though... his screams echo through her, chilling her through the bone. She wonders what he is protecting. She wonders if it is worth it. 

Her red is warped now, weak. It protects her bloodstream, but it does little else. She hoped they don't shock her. At least not until she can replenish it. 

When she returns to the cell, she feels the red she left behind call for her. She reaches at it, before tentatively settling right outside Sam's mind. She sends the question, before he invites her in. 

_This is weird..._

Wanda has to agree with him. They're standing in a small room, with a two bed shoved against either side. Military gear is folded and pressed, on top of a high shelf. There is a clean desk, with a several pictures on it. Sam is in one of them, but she doesn't know the other man that's alongside him.

_This used to be my cabin in boot camp._

Wanda looks around, before settling herself on the bed. Sam grabs a chair, and brings it over to face her. The clean sheets crinkle and bend underneath her, and she folds her legs up. She sits there, cross-legged, and looks at Sam. 

_So what do you want to talk about?_

She opened her mouth, before closing it again. Wanda cats her eyes around the room, and they land on a few of the boxes, stuffed away in a corner. She thinks for a moment, before slowly speaking  _Can we... play a game?_

Sam turns around, and opens one of the cabinets. He removes a small board, with alternating red and black squares, and a bunch of tiny disks, in wither black or white. She places the board on the ground, before arranging the disks, with all the white pieces on one side, and the black ones on another.

_Come. Sit._

She sits. Quietly, without making a fuss, she watches as her shows her how to play. How kings are kinged, how pieces die, and how the game is won. When they start playing for real, she finds herself being decimated, as he slaughters her pieces. They fall, like leaves underneath a swift wind. They reset the gameboard. This time she understands the strategies a bit better. They play, again and again, and again, until she finally backs his last pawn into a the center, with a king ready to jump him, and two other pieces laying in wait if he moved any other way. He conceded defeat, before packing up the game. Outside, Wanda sees his body jerk, and inside-Sam flinches 

_I'd advise you to leave. I don't think this will be pleasant._

She obeys. She sits in her straitjacket, in perfect silence. There is nothing for her, here. Clint is still somewhere, and he'd forbidden her from entering his mind when she couldn't see him  _There are some things I don't want you to see kid._

She insisted she was not a child. He raised an eyebrow, before reminding her that she was eighteen. She said that she saw the same things he did. He said that she shouldn't see them twice, then. 

She didn't think he understood, what it was like to not be able to move, or breathe, or scream, or cry. Her magic wanted to run, so badly, it wanted to burst out of her shell. The desires that she stifle came up with full force, the want to tear the raft down, bring the roof tumbling down on it's guards head, to spear the last few that remained until they could see the same white that she had. Until they were trapped, barely able to move, or breathe, or scream, or cry, in fear that her magic would grip them, and bring that awful, awful white. 

Her red wants restitution, wants justice. She wants restitution, justice. 

It is not fair? she wonders Is it not fair that the people who did this to her would face the same agony, would face the same suffering? The red crawling through her veins leaped to the surface, and and she felt it gathering there, pooling, ready to leap out, and tear, and destroy. Was it not fair?

But then something in her shifted - and she heard a ripple of Clint's voice. Why be as they are? He'd asked her one night, when she asked if he could figure out who had ordered the bombs that had landed on her family. Why be the killers they are, when with your powers, you could be so much more?

Wanda doesn't know. It rankles her that she is expected to take, to take the pain, the suffering and not return it in kind. It insults the decency of the girl within her, who cries for fairness, for eye-for-an-eye, and demands that everything be equal - that everything be fair. And yet, she remembers Laura being the one to tell her, deep in the night on the anniversary of her brother's and city's death, when she'd asked why Stark deserved what he has, Laura had given her an answer - Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. You don't know his story, you only know your own. And do you want your story to be one of someone who causes pain, and misery, and grief unnecessarily?

She sits, and she makes her choice. 

Even after Clint returns, there is silence in the cell that night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of Wanda being okay-ish. Just... heads up.  
> Also I saw endgame a few days ago, and, um.  
> Natasha, and Tony and Clint, and Thor, and Hulk, Steve, and AND WANDA'S SCENE WAS AWESOME!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint shares. Wanda screams.

In a few weeks, it all reaches at bursting point. One day she just heads into Clint's head, and allows her mind to crack open. 

Clint is there for her, arms open, eyes accepting. She bursts into tears there, in his arms, while he holds her, and gently helps her arrange herself, collect herself. She wants to tell him that it is too much, that she can't take it. She sits there, and lets her cry, while he is also bruised. 

Selfish, selfish, selfish. 

In the end, they sit together, while he begins telling her another story  _So this one was a bit of a solo jaunt - way back in the day, prolly one of my first missions. So Coulson sent me on an assassination mission - terrorist leader in Afghanistan, and was responsible for a few attacks on a handful of our bases. So I'm in the blistering hot sun, and I mean that I literally have blisters all over my hands, it was horrible, and I gotta stake him out. Problem is, there are a bunch of civvies back at his base, so explosives are a big no no, and he usually has one of 'em his room. But traditional weapons also weren't an option, because there was no way to get into the man's room except for a tiny hole at the top of the roof that he got mail, weapons and other things from. It was awful, Wanda, and kinda heartbreaking. In the end, he was scheduled to lead an attack in a few days time on a civvie village, and the army needed him out as soon as possible._

_So I snuck into their rooms, and lemme tell you, they were startled as hell to see me. I had asked if there was anyway they could keep one of their numbers from going in for a day, cause I'd hate to see anything happen to them. Apparently they pieced my broken Arabic together well enough to get what I was saying, before one of them told me to go for it tonight._

_So I went, and I shot a small thing that blew the whole room sky high. And when the smoke cleared, there was a single lady there, a bit older than the rest, who laid there, dead. She had a smile on her face, and she laid there. It was chaos outside, a buncha people were looking for who did it, and all I could do was look at the dead body of a woman, laying over on her side. The others were able to get away in the chaos, and I'd led them to the nearest city. They found shelter there, thankfully. I tried to find'em again, but yeah. no luck. After I'd given Coulson my mission report, he'd asked me a few questions about my judgment._

_He told me about mission integrity, how I'd waited so long to complete, how I endangered myself needlessly. I'd asked him what I should of done instead, and he told me that I risked more lives by waiting to complete the mission than doing it in advance. That the person in the room still died. He told me that sometimes... sometimes there's casualties. Doesn't mean you lose sight of the bigger issue._

_And if you can't decide - if you are genuinely torn, or think something bad might happen - then ask. There's never shame in asking. And you'll get opinions from people who know better then you do._

Wanda sits and reflects. She knows why he told the story, of course, and what she was supposed to learn. She knows the moral. She doesn't know if it applies. She agrees with Stark on one thing - they do need to be kept in check. It was Ultron who killed Sokovia, and he was made in the Avengers lab (you hypocritical swine, you know your part in that mess, brother-killer) and well... they did need someone to look over their shoulders. Someone to ensure that they were being careful. But she didn't know who that'd be. She knew that it was SHIELD before, but now... well that was gone. She didn't know who could fill it. She didn't think anyone could.

At the same time, she didn't trust the accords. Not with the way that it treated all people enhanced, superheros or not, worse then how they treated common criminals. She refused to take that when she was off duty, when she wasn't an Avenger, but rather someone normal. She refused that. She'd been a weapon in HYDRA - And she saw just how flexible they were, when her blinders came off. And she doesn't know that the UN was different. 

She was stuck in between. But her choice didn't really matter, did it? It was either accept them, or end up here. And she was here. She'd asked Steve what was in the Accords - he mentioned no right to legal counsel. She wasn't leaving. Ever.

Clint wasn't leaving either. He'd be stuck here, while his kids grew up, and his wife grew old, waiting for some confirmation about where he was. They wouldn't find any. 

The men came into her room and dragged her away. As they leave, her heart drops - they see a flicker of red on Clint.  _Nonononononon please no, please think you were imagining, don't don't don't._

Lightning runs through her like acid. "Put your magic away!" She complies and pulls it all in, gritting her teeth. She cannot scream. When the connection with Clint loosens, she does anyways. The button stays held down, she screams, and nothing changes. Finally they let go before she has something pumped through her. 

She bore it quietly. And when she felt the serums pore through her, she sat, and waited for death. Her red saved her, again, and again, and again. She tries stopping it once. It doesn't let her. Her survival is it's survival, and the red is too selfish to let her die. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clint's voice is so fun to write. Laura's too. The small speech at the end was really, really fun to write.  
> Also, I didn't really have a title that I liked overmuch before, but this one just came to me, and I'm really happy with it. So yay!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve (finally) arrives. They leave to Wakanda.

A handful more weeks go by, before she hears shooting. She can't make anything out - it's light, and only knows the sound from her days playing on the field, listening carefully for any bullets that might come near her. Her Mama had told her to be cautious, cautious always.

Wanda knows that Clint's alarmed. She knows that he's worried that she hadn't reached out ever - she knows he wants her to. She can't. There's to much energy to invest in doing that, too much effort to put in. She can't.

She sits most the time. Sits and dreams of Pietro and Mama and Papa. Papa's face on good days as he made breakfast. Mamas quiet singing. The lullabies that she'd tell her, in the middle of the night, when even Pietro wasn't awake, but Wanda couldn't sleep. Her Papa had always called her a dreamer - head stuck in the clouds, dreaming of things fantastical. She wonders at the irony that she was made to get into other people's heads. And the bullets were ricocheting off somewhere - she remembered the feeling when her connection to Pietro split. He'd held a bit of her red, and when he'd died it had echoed through her veins. She felt every bullet enter his body, she heard his last words, as she focused, hyper sensitive to him. _You didn't see it coming?_ Later she hunted down the monster that did it to him - she only regret was that he had no brain, no door with which she could enter and visit upon him and deliver him all the pain she'd felt to him, again and again and again. Let him embody agony. Let him feel what she did.

She was tired. She wanted to see them again - wanted to see Mama and Papa and Pietro again. She knew Vision might be sad, but at the same time - he had not even visited her. It was likely, it was for the best, that he forget her. She'd die, she'd see everyone again, she'd see Mama and Papa and Pietro again. She wouldn't be a weapon anymore. She could sleep.

She hears shuffling into her cell. One of the guards has grabbed her, before forcing into the hallways and poking her with something sharp "Use your powers girl! or else I swear the collar's going off." She hears other soldiers there swearing, before the shooting goes again.

Wanda thinks it would be much to hard, much to painful, when she refuses to open her eyes. The tap her again, before the shock caller bursts, and she feels the terrible pain run over. She jolts - The pain is something that makes her feel for half a second, before something hits the guard. She crumples onto the floor, button released, as she lays there. A pair of hands gently undo the buckles, before releasing whatever held them together. She opens her eyes, before seeing the Captain there. 

He smiles at her, before pressing a button that opens up the collar. He gently removes it, placing it on the floor. His smile has changed, and Wanda leans back. He muscles flex, free, and she calls up a tiny bit of her red. 

There is no joy there. No joy in the scarlet that curls around her finger, making tiny sparks. She lets her arms fall, and her legs loose. She was tired. 

She hears the click of the key card as someone's door opens. A while later, Clint is there, next to her. He shakes her, but she refuses to move. She is too tired. He heaves her up onto one shoulder, before they walk out. There is a plane there, painted black. She sits next to Clint, when they move out, and away. Besides them is a woman - she's dark skinned and bald, wearing a bright red outfit. She sits in front of the control panel, alongside the man in the black and purple outfit who had been in the airport.

As they take off, silver rockets come flying towards them. She feels the ship twirl and maneuver, as they dodge and dodge again. She wonders what it will be like if they just fall into the sea, would they die quickly? Or would it be slow, painful? She sees a missile coming straight for the cockpit, and she hesitates for half a moment, as Clint lets out a scream. She reaches out and pulling it down. Bullets fly to the two pilots, but she keeps up a shield of red, until she hears an accented "You can bring it down Ms. Maximoff."

Clint hold her hand and whispers "Good work kid. Well done. I'm proud of you." 

She nods, before settling back into silence. She knows Clint has a family back in the USA - and now she knows that Scott does too. They want to go back, desperately. She doesn't know what'll happen with her. She almost imagines tipping over into the side, into the long deep waters below. It would bring her back home, to Mama and Papa and Pietro. There is nothing for her here. Nothing for her anywhere.

Before they land, they cross through a bright blue sphere. After that, they fly over farmland, before landing on a piece of metal. They sink slowly, until Clint carries Wanda to a small bed. She sits. He watches her, concerned. She closes her eyes. 

Later, a short girl with braids settles down next to her. She gives her food and water, which she settles on the bed, before asking her name. She wonders where Vision is, is he safe, is he whole, is he struggling with anything? The girl next to her cycles through the the same questions. She wonders if she will ever be able to tell her that it is Wanda. She is Wanda. Everything around her feels like dust, like it could all fade away at any moment. The girl leaves, and the food becomes cold. She is rising up, up, up, and floating on top of everything. Nothing can touch her here.

Clint comes in later. He almost begs her to say something. She doesn't. She does grab his hand. 

 _Don't leave me_ she wants to ask, but can't. Even if she could, she doesn't think she would. Clint needs his kids. His kids need him. She has no place in that. 

Clint steadies her, closing his hands around her's. He asks if she wants him to stay, and Wanda is tired of being selfish. He will know if she lies. He always knows when she lies. She says nothing. He tells her that if Laura doesn't need him at home, he'll stay here. She knows she can't ask that of him, and shakes her head, slowly. No. She hopes he lets her make the choice to not be selfish. Let her choose. 

The girl returns, before pulling Clint outside and asking some questions. She closes her eyes, and lays back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here ya go! Sorry for the shorter update, but they should get longer after this. Thank you guys so much for the comments, it really makes my day! Also I have math exams tomorrow, so wish me luck!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuri helps Wanda, and jewelry making is surprising cathartic.

She later learns that the girl's name is Shuri. She reminds her of Stark sometimes, when she brings in new inventions, and asks if she could try them. Wanda acquiesces. She always does. She pulls out her blood and puts it somewhere - Wanda doesn't know where, but she can feel the red in it fighting, before leaving when the blood died. The red had rested inside of her, now that it no longer has to fight. It makes her feel hungry when she refuses to eat, and thirsty when she refuses to drink. If the red doesn't force her, then Shuri does. Sometimes Wanda fights the red - it suggests, and she doesn't want to cave to the suggestions, she doesn't have the energy - but other times she goes quietly, when she can't see anything.

Sometimes it is better. She will stand up, stretch. She will hear Shuri tell her about what might happen to her - she tells her that they are trying to find a therapist that can help her, and keep her a complete secret, and is in Wakanda. Shuri mentions that the people's fear of outsiders makes it hard - she doesn't want one of them to tip off the UN. Wanda wants to tell her not to waste her time, to let her go. Shuri is all bright smiles, and happy grins. She learns that Shuri loves to design, improve, that she does it with everything. Wanda wonders if she is one of her projects - one of her quests to improve, and rebuild and enhance. 

Other times it is worse. Right now, it is really, really bad. She knows Shuri is talking, but she cannot focus on the words. She knows that there is food in her mouth, but she cannot taste it. She knows that she is sitting on a bed, but she cannot feel it. She is sleeping on pillows, but her skin feels rub down, until the only thing that exists is the pounding of her head and the occasional pang of hunger when he body screams at her, and then the numb relief when her red climbing inside and forces her up. The black floor stretches out beneath her, and she sleeps. She is nothing. She doesn't know if she truly exists, sometimes. Other times, she can't remember things - she knows she has a brother, but cannot remember his name. She reaches for memories of her country - but she can only remember broken concrete and rising dust and metal on metal. 

When is really bad, she doesn't sleep until her red drags her under. 

Shuri gives her things sometimes. She doesn't know what she does when its bad, but when it isn't, she'll get small trinkets - small metal puzzles that stump her. Bracelets and necklaces with colorful beads. Flowers that she's never seen before.

She loves the flowers the most. The first time she got them, she stares at them. For hours. They sit there, like a giant colorful blob over her vision, like a beacon. Wanda remembers the flowers around her homestead, that her mother used to pluck. She'd take five or six of them, before sitting Wanda down, and placing her rough hands over hers. They would weave together something beautiful, and Mother would set it on her head. Wanda was wearing her crown when they were hiding as they heard bombs in the distance, hiding as bullets echoed outside, hiding as something pierced their walls and skewered their parents and exploded. Wanda and Pietro were knocked back. Mama and Papa were gone. Wanda wondered if they were happy, if they were content, wherever they are.

Wanda stares at the flowers. Her red holds them, brings them close and settles them in her hands. Wanda hesitates, before moving her fingers. The slow rhythmic gestures remind her of home, her real home, that died so very very long ago. Wanda remembers her mother, remembers her and holds her close to her chest, and the memories cut. 

When Shuri returned, she reached out with the crown in her hands, and placed it in the other girl's. She did not want to see  it. She did not want to hold it.

Shuri smiles, before looked up at it, and placing it on Wanda's head. Wanda blinks. Shuri laughs. Wanda feels the gentle press of it against her head, and she feels her mother's gentle hand, feels her presence sharply. She doesn't take the crown off again.

The next time she gets flowers, she weaves a crown, and places it on Shuri's head. They smile. Wanda doesn't know how she remembers, but when Shuri gives her flowers, she always weaves them together. The next time, she made a bracelet, like the brightly colored things in the bazaar back home. After that, she takes apart one of the other necklaces she was given. She laces the string through the flower, and separates each one with beads. It takes hours to complete. When Shuri returns, she finds her holding a garland that falls halfway to the floor. She stands up, and hands it to her. Thank you Wanda wants to say Thank you for letting me out, for even just a moment. It makes her smile when Shuri comes in the next day, wearing it.

Shuri sits right besides her, before giving her something. Whatever it is, it is in a small box. Wanda  pulls it open, and inside there are spools of thread, small bowls of beads in every color Wanda could imagine, and twelve tiny flowers. There are six blue lilies, with dark purple centers, and six with pink centers that darken to red. 

"Mother loved this. She asked, if you were willing, to make one for her."

Wanda doesn't know. Doesn't know what to do for a second. She sees something, forming in her minds eye, a small thing that would twist around the queen's wrist. She gets to work, finding the length that would fit. She leaves room in case she gets in wrong, and picks out the beads that she wants to accompany it. Shuri pours the beads out in a bowl, and Wanda raises an eyebrow at her "What? Do you not do it like this?"

Wanda lifts the beads, and places them on the thread "That is so much slower!" Shuri says "Do it like this. It will be quicker." Shuri garbs a needle, before tying the end of one string onto it. She drags the needle through the beads, and the slide down the string, in all different sorts of colors.

Wanda tries it. The patterns on the thread are much more random, but that enhances its beauty in a way she wouldn't have thought of. She grins back at Shuri, before weaving the first flower on. It progresses like that, with beading, before she flowered. Shuri left about halfway through, and Wanda wonders where she is going. It takes so much time, but when Wanda has finished one bracelet, with the exception of the clasp, and is halfway through the second, her lips split into a smile. She takes a short break, while she looks around for something to close the first bracelet with. She picks up the metal puzzles, before turning them sideways. Her red slowly tears it apart and remolds it, until she makes two sets of small hooks that click together, but can be pulled apart. She doesn't think Shuri will mind, but in hindsight, she should have probably asked first. The clasps are tied to the ends of the first bracelet, neat and snug against the beads..

Shuri barges into the room, with a necklace in her hand. It is a small thing, that is barely the length of Wanda's neck. 

"I was thinking that you might want to leave soon. I made this for you. It is similar to style to what most ladies here wear, so it will not be too noticeable, but at the same time, you can find me whenever you need to. Or call for help. I don't know if you'll need it with your-" at this she flicks her hand around with small little twirls "but there are many small buttons on it, and it will alert us." The necklace fastened slowly around her neck, and she felt it squeeze and hold there. 

Wanda didn't feel herself breathe. She felt the bedding under her turn to dust, as she sat there. Shuri was talking, but it wasn't real. Wanda felt herself be surrounded by air and only air, and she was slowly floating up. There was sand on her, everywhere, and everything was too dry. She sat, and beaded. Flower. Bead. Flower. Bead. Clasp. The necklace sat tight around her throat. The door moved, and she placed the finished bracelets down. 

Everything was slow. Slow, slow, slow. She didn't know if it was real - if any of this was real. Maybe she was back in the RAFT and this was all a dream, caused by her red, to avoid her from going crazy. Maybe this was her mind going crazy. She could not remember how she got here - and why she was making the bracelet. She sat. She waited. She was silent. She would not get hurt this was. She was safe so long as she was silent, and didn't move, and barely breathed and didn't speak. She felt her hands grow bigger, like they were calling to other people, and her legs grow longer. She wasn't real.

She closed her eyes. Later she heard a creaking, back and forth. Activity. She didn't know what the guards wanted. There was something against her skin. She could not move. She felt hands close around the back of the collar, and it came off slowly. it bent around her throat, and she felt a hand against her back. Someone was rocking her, back and forth, whispering words in her ear  "You are safe, you are in Wakanda, I am Ramonda, Shuri's mother, you are in my home, child, you are safe, do not fear, you are safe here." Slow pats, as she felt the bed under her body, the clothes on her, the hair on her face, as she noticed the deep black walls and white lining, that looked to be something out of one of the books Pietro had once stolen for her. Pietro, what would he think about her now? (Weak, worthless, powerless, do something Wanda!)

She placed the beadwork on the side, and stood up and stretched. Her limbs creaked and popped, and she let the red flood her fingers. She wondered how she looked, red strings between her hands as she pulled her hands apart. She wondered if she looked like the demons from the stories her parents would tell her, of monsters that seduced mankind into wicked deeds with stone hearts. 

"Does that happen to you often? That you... leave?"

Wanda doesn't want to speak. It is easier to keep her lips shut, to keep herself from letting anything out. Ramonda looks at her steadily, allowing her time to think, to collect, to know what she wants to say, and how she might want to say it. "Sometimes the fog is thicker, sometimes it is thinner. I... don't know. How long?"

"Two weeks. We found a woman willing to help you."

"Why - why do you help me?" Your old king had hated me goes unsaid. It sits in the room.

Ramonda took a breath, before responding "Not... you. Specifically. T'Chaka had hated the... idea. Of the Avengers. In general."

"Oh."

"My son said that you saved the life of him and the head of the Dora Milaje. I must thank you for that."

"Nothing. It.. was nothing."

Ramonda smiled, before continuing "Some of the other girls saw the things you gave Shuri - they were rather fond of them. I was thinking that you might make more of them."

"Oh. Um. Shuri had told me that you'd wanted one? I have finished them. They are here, and well... would you wish to try them? Maybe?"

Ramonda picked them up, and fixed them over her wrists. They dangled a tad, from where Wanda was sitting, and she looked back up to Ramonda's face, watching as her face changed slightly.

"Thank you." Ramonda clasped her hands, before standing up and walking out of the door of her room. Wanda wondered what was waiting outside for her - she wanted to feel fresh air again. She wanted to walk on soil. She did not know which ways to turn, so she sat in her room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry if I got Shuri's character completely wrong. Please forgive me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda meets a few kids, and T'Challa.

Shuri came later

Wanda sits for a few moments, in quiet contemplation. She feels a longing to  _get out get out feel something real, trapped, trapped, trapped._ She wants to ask, but she doesn't want to speak. 

She gathers breath in her throat and released it. Gathers and release. Finally, finally, it bubbles out of her "May I leave?"

"You speak! I had wondered if you could for a while."

Wanda makes a noise at the back of her throat.

"Where do you wish to go?"

"Outside. I want... grass. Soil."

Shuri grabs her by the arm, before leading her through doorways. Wanda cannot keep track of where they are going - she will have to ask for a map later. The pathways eventually spill into open air, with vast pastures of green grass dotted with yellow and pink flowers. She cannot tell what type they are, but they are beautiful, and she cannot help kneeling next to one and taking a deep breath of its scent. Wanda lays down, and rolls, and she feels the comforting feeling of dirt against her skin, sunlight against her flesh and the sky wide open. She feels something stir in her, something that sits there, and she does not know what it is, but it is different from everything else, and that is what matters about it, she thinks.

There are children nearby, three of them. The two eldest are boys, and the youngest is a tiny girl, playing with dolls on the edge of the field. She wonders if there is a school somewhere near - if it is after their classes finish. They stare at her, a foreigner among them. She knows she stands out. She waits a minute, not sure which way to go. 

"Go! Talk to them!" Wanda hesitates for a moment, before slowly walking in their direction. They don't scatter as she nears, but rather turn towards her. She thinks the children are scared at first, but she asks for their names. The three are tentative, before responding. She doesn't quite understand what they are saying, but Shuri slides up, and translates for her. They sit for a moment, before the youngest eagerly says something. Wanda feels her eyebrows come together, and Shuri whispered in her ear "They say that they want to see your magic. Apparently they saw it on the television."

Wanda hesitates for a moment, before pulling the red out of herself slowly. It curls around her fist, before the child grabs at it. Her hand goes through it, before she giggled. The boys try as well, and she allows one of them to grab onto it. He holds it, before one of the others try and grab it from them. She makes two bits more, and the other two pour it through their fingers. She makes them laugh with her red, and they marvel at the twisting scarlet in the air. It is surprising, to see her red as something innocent. Not a weapon, but rather a toy. She felt it leap out of her, dancing in the air for them. They laugh, before a woman comes out, red faced and angry. Wanda feels caught in headlights, as the woman rounds on her. 

The eldest runs up to her, and excitedly tells her something. Her response is sharp and pointed, before she turns up to Shuri. She asks something sharply, but it all flies over Wanda's head. Shuri looks up, and eyebrows rising, and responds in kind. The woman huffs, before holding the children by the arm and pulling them away. 

Wanda shrinks back into the soil. This was a mistake. She shouldn't have come out.

Shuri looks angry, before showing Wanda to the garden. Wanda just can't seem to get the encounter out of her find, no matter how many new things she sees and enjoys in the garden.

Weeks pass. Wanda slowly gets used to her new life here. It is peaceful. There is not much for her to do - she usually makes the small beaded patterns that she stores in her basket. She learns pieces of Xhosa - the new letters of the new language, how to say please, thank you, how much is this, and where is the bathroom?

One day, T'Challa comes. 

"I am glad to see you are doing better."

"Thank you your majesty."

"Shuri enjoys your company. It is good to see her with a new friend."

"I am glad that she thinks of me as her friend."

There is a lull for a moment, as her settles in one of the chairs. He pauses for a moment, before clearing his throat.

"I need to ask you some questions about your gifts."

Wanda looks up, before nodding. (They do not trust you.)

"Do you control them? Or do they control you?"

"A bit of both. My red - it has its own wants." Wanda remembers. Her red shivers inside of her as she almost sees white walls instead of the palace's black.

"Like?"

"I do not know. I know it wants me to survive, because if I die then it dies too, but usually it wants what I want."

"And can you stop it?"

"Sometimes. I couldn't in the" Wanda pauses here. Collect yourself she wants to scream. Get it together. "in the RAFT. I could control it somewhat before, but not exceptionally well. But I was able to stop it whenever I wanted."

"Very well. What can you do with your power, exactly?"

"I can - I can pull anything apart. I can get into people's minds though I haven't done it in years, so I might be rusty. I can move things or squeeze things, I can hold things with my red."

"And do you intend to use your powers here? Or do your powers want to be used here?"

Wanda thinks about the small jewelry pieces she makes. Would she be disallowed from making them? "I... do not wish to use them destructively. As for my red, I do not know."

"Destructively?"

"I can make things. With my red. Like bracelets."

"And do your powers wish to be used?"

Wanda stopped. She felt... dizzy. Everything was hovering, she was hovering, and she couldn't... didn't... "Give me a moment please." There is silence.

She holds her arms tight to her chest.  _Control control control._

There is another awkward lull, before the door opens, and Shuri bursts in "Wanda! I have had an id- Oh brother."

"Sister."

"Please tell me you are not boring her with politics, or policy, or whatever you boring almost-king types do? There are so many more interesting things!"

"Not politics. I am just leaving. Well, thank you Ms. Maximoff, for your time. Is it fine if I return later to conclude our discussion?"

Wanda nods her head. She cannot, does not want to speak anymore. She can barely keep thinking in a straight line.

"Well? Shoo brother! Go do something else with your time. Primp for your coronation or something. Make eyes at Nakia"

"I do not make eyes at Nakia. She is not even here."

"Oh? And where would she be?"

"You know she is in the jungle somewhere in Tanzania, with the caravan of kidnapped gir- you are mocking me." 

"Mhm. You remember awfully lot about this girl, eh?."

"Anyone I should be worried about you seeing?"

At this Shuri raises her eyebrows before switching back to Xhosa. She speaks so fast, Wanda misses mos of what they say. She angrily responds to him, before a small smirk crosses his face. He replies, and the Shuri grabs him by the arm and drags him out of the room. He doesn't resist very much. Shuri makes a comment, and Wanda sees a small blush cross T'Challa's face.

At this, Shuri shuts the door. Wanda hears T'Challa sigh, before turning in the other direction, with footsteps echoing as he receded.

"Well, I have had this idea."

Wanda raises her eyebrows. She slowly starts to unclench, to let her lips relax, to allow herself to let her limbs free. "You always have ideas."

"Yes I do. You love them. So, the flowers always die, which is a shame, but I have made this spray - it goes on and ta-da!" The flower slowly froze over, leaving it oddly rigid, but bright. "So, in your next one, you will make it with this, yeah?"

"Of course Shuri."

"Brilliant! So, have you considered making a business?"

"What."

"Selling these! Come on, you can do it! With my brilliance and your talents, you could spread these everywhere!"

"Shuri..."

"Come on! There is a placee nearby, with a storefront, and there's a house too, and it needs to be cleaned up a bit, but..."

"Shuri!"

Shuri keeps babbling. Wanda listens, and slowly, the idea seems more and more plausible.

Maybe, just maybe, this might work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a phenomenally hard chapter to write, since I wanted to write Wanda recovering without making it seem too quick. I must have rewrote it like, 5 or 6 times. Please tell me if I did a decent job of it! Also thank you so much to everyone who comments. Your feedback really makes my day!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda gets significantly better, but something is on the horizon.

In the next week, things start moving faster. Wanda is moved out of the royal castle to a small house nearby, with two more sets of clothes, a basket of food, and a pouch of money. The farms are right behind her, and sometimes the leaves would blow onto the small backyard that she has. Not more than a second goes by that a sound doesn't echo from somewhere in the distance, either a pig's squeal or a cow's groan or some children's shouts. The home isn't large, with a bedroom, a bathroom, and a tiny kitchette, and a small storefront.

It's perfect. Usually.

Wanda starts cultivating a small garden in her backyard. She grows flowers, and working with the soil helps her. She buys a few seedlings from a local shop, and begins creating her garden. She starts with easy plants, plants that she knows won't die. One the first day, she starts tending to the garden. It is weed-fillen, with overgrowth climbing all over the walls, and thick, rough soil. She finds a shovel, and uses it to pull the weeds out and turn the soil. It is hard work, but her red streams out to tug at extranous roots and move the soil around. She plants small orange flowers she is told is called Strelizias, and bright, yellow daffodils. 

But when night comes, she crawls inside, and sits in the bedroom. The bed is not fit to be slept on - Wanda swears that the sheets have something in them. There is a single white lamp on the ceiling, casting a harsh, pale light all over the room. Wanda takes one look at the bed and sits in the corner. Her head lolls back. There is a silence, a painful loud silence, and it echos across the room. The white light casts a shadow, and everything is crumbling. She is touching nothing.

She sits for hours. Or minutes. Wanda can't tell. Eventually something triggers in the back of her brain - _you're supposed to sleep, you need rest, sleep, lay your head back_ \- and she swears Pietro is besides her, before the voice shifts to match Clint. She sits on the pale white floor, surrounded with white walls, and she is silent. She doesn't speak, she won't talk, she is silence. Slowly, painfully slowly, she drifts off.

The second day, when she wakes up, she's disoriented. Wanda doesn't know where she is - _Mama, Papa, Pietro, Clint, where are you, where am I? -_ before she startles at a loud bleat. The morning sun is streaming through her window, splaying pale pink and orange against the walls. Wanda breathes, before tracing her fingers over the bracelet on her wrist. She strokes the metal, and the hidden buttons, and the beautiful engraved design. Wanda gets up and stretches, and goes outside.

She plants a seedling that will grow into a bright pink impala lily, and another that will become a blue squill. She works on the storefront as well. The entire house it boarded up, and dusty from misuse. Wanda searches the cabinets and finds a few rags. She gathers water in her hands, before scrubbing away at the tables in the front. The tiny stall reveals bright red and pink patterning behind the dust, and she smiles when the dust is finally swept away from the floor. The place is... beautiful. 

Later in the evening, T'Challa is in front of her home. She goes out to meet him, and they settle far away from the flowerbeds. 

"My apologies Ms. Maximoff, there are just a few more things I must ask you."

Wanda nods. She has her eyes fixed in the distance, on the glowing sun that rests on the horizon.

"What do your powers want?"

"My red is... I don't know. It helps me, sometimes. It helps me a lot. But I cannot exactly ask it."

"Could you try?"

Wanda took a breathe, before letting small sparks onto her fingers. Her eyes are closed, and she feels the scarlet curl around her arms. It sits there. She pushed the question to it, and she felt it whirl. She felt a tiny push back, not speech, but the echo of a memory, and Wanda could only see a metal clasp.

She opened her eyes, and she thought. "It showed me the clasp. I do not understand what it means to tell me."

T'Challa looks out into the distance. Wanda cannot see his eyes. "If Wakanda was in need of your aid, would we be able to rely on you?"

Wanda, for once, does not hesitate "Yes. I swear it."

T'Challa gives her one last glance "Well, I must be off then. Should you need anything, do not be afraid to call my sister. She is ridiculously fond of you."

She nods her head, and T'Challa ambles off. She turns and heads inside. After taking a look at the white room, she walks outside and sleeps on the soil behind the house.

On the third day, she starts on the rest of the house. The bedroom has a single bed in it, barely large enough to fit her, with a broken mattress and old sheets. She dumps them, and her red carries them to the outside of the room. She uses the old rag, and scraps the dust off the bed frame. After that is done, she begins rubbing off the grime on the cabinets. It comes off, and the room gradually comes together.

Later in the day, a women knocks on her door. Wanda takes a look, and the woman there doesn't ring any bells. She cracks open the door, and the other women smiles.

"Hello. I was told this was the address of one Wanda Maximoff?"

"Yes. And who would you be?"

"Your therapist. Kal'ti Khanata."

"Ah. Would you mind if we stayed outside? The house is a bit of a mess."

"Very well." She has a gentle smile on her face, something that reminds Wanda of the lake on a warm day, with warm water lapping around her feet, neither too warm nor too cold. They settle themselves on the ground, not near the garden but a but further out.

"The sunset is rather beautiful this time of day, no?" 

Wanda was thrown for a second "I... suppose so."

"I tried painting it once, but I never had the patience to complete it. I've noticed that you are a bit of a craftswomen yourself?"

"Somewhat. I make little pieces of jewelry."

And for a few minutes - maybe fifteen or so - they continue like that. Whenever Wanda cannot speak, Kal'ti fills the silence, and nothing drags. And it is nice - but Wanda doesn't get the point of it all. 

"Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

Wanda is stuck "I suppose the RAFT?"

"What about the RAFT?"

"I... don't know."

"How would you say you feel? In general?"

Wanda thinks. "Stressed. Numb."

"Since you've come to Wakanda, what have you found to be the most stressful?"

"Just... everything."

"I remember when I first came back. Wakanda was overwhelming. Do you like the house?"

"Yes. And no. It is nice, small but dusty. And far too silent."

"Why do you think the silence bothers you?"

Wanda can't speak. She feels like what is left after a desert storm, when everything else has been burned away. She feels like she is rising, rising, like everything here is so very far away. The other woman's words wash over her ears and then drain away. She can't understand them. She can see the grass in front of her, but she does not want to respond, to have to think. There is then something in her hands. Wanda feels it - turning it over and running her hands over it. She makes out the shape of a small ball, warm to the touch, that radiated through her fingers. Gradually she felt the grass underneath her, the slight wind in the air, the scarlet that brushed against her fingers and sank into the ground. Kal'ti told her she had what was called a dissociative episode.

"What do you think tends to trigger it for you?"

Wanda shrugs. The silence lingers there, unwanted, and Wanda waits for her to fill it.

It drags on. 

"Collars."

"Collars?"

"Collars are bad. I cannot - I do not wear certain necklaces anymore. I do not like things touching my neck."

"Thank you for trusting me with this information."

Kal'ti switches, suddenly to topics about her childhood. Wanda hurts a bit, whenever she mentions her own Papa or Mama, but she listens, and it feels shocking nice to simply listen to someone. She answers some questions about growing up, about Mama and Papa and Pietro. Small memories, like what their school was like, and how her Mama looked ad her Papa sounded. Sooner than she was expecting, the session ends. When Wanda tries to return the ball, Kal'ti hands it back to her. 

"This is your's. You need it, not I."

Wanda closed her fist around it, before tucking it into her pocket.

On the fourth day, she starts on the kitchen. The appliances look like they haven't been used in years, and the chairs are caked with dust, like everything in the house. Wanda grabs her rag, and continues scraping. By midday, the table has been cleared of dust, and the two chairs have as well. While she's sitting there, caked in grime, she hears a knock at the door.

Shuri comes in. As soon as she clears the doorway, she begins chattering away - T'Challa is to be crowned soon. Wanda nods in the right places, while they sit in the clears Wanda has cleaned about half an hour before.

"As soon as he finds Nakia, we are going to host the ceremony!"

"Who's Nakia?"

Shuri pauses before leaning in close to her. "Do not tell him that I told you, but they used to be a thing."

"For how long?"

"They dated a few months, before breaking up. He never quite told me why... but he's still chasing her."

Wanda paused for a "And she's running?"

"In a matter of speaking. Anyways, the corset I have to wear is so uncomfortable, and I cannot bear it."

"You cannot make it more comfortable?"

"Do you not think I have tried? Mother forbid me when she found me tampering with it."

"And I am certain that it did not include anything that could shoot lasers, or spark electricity, or _explode._ "

"Well..."

Wanda raised an eyebrow. Shuri shoved her, and Wanda giggled. Shuri grinned back. She takes out a basket of food, and Wanda enjoys the lunch. Later, she leaves, and Wanda finishes the kitchen. The house is genuinely starting to grow on her.

On the fifth day, the coronation happens. Wanda spends the day cleaning away the bathroom. It smells awful, and she almost throws up several times. It reminds of somewhat of Sokovia, of the filth-filled streets, and she cannot help the flush of shame that spreads through her when she thinks of her (former) nation like that (traitor). After she is done, the turns on the tap to see if water runs. She sighs when it doesn't, and resolves to ask how much plumbing would cost.

Once night falls, she opens up one of the interfaces on the bracelet. She goes quickly, searching through options - Ah! there. Shuri had made a small program for her - something designed to help her learn to speak Xhosa. The clicks take a while - there are very many, and Wanda doesn't get much further than practicing some of the more difficult words of the language. But it is progress. 

On the sixth day, T'Challa spends his first day as king. Wanda keeps her head down. She turns to different plants, and starts tends to it, when she feels something rising. Her red itches, and she lets it out, and it makes her heart stop when the red surrounds the flower and it grows. Wanda plucks a large, red, gorgeous Desert Lily, and marvels. Her red reaches out, and every plant it touches just rises out of the ground, growing quickly. Her red is dancing all around her, and she feels it rest - they are doing something harmless, something good. Her red is resting in the air, swirling and darting and free, and Wanda laughs with it. She leans back, before picking some of the flowers, and weaving them together.

She creates bouquets, and grabs a cloak, before settling it over her head. She hides in it, before heading to the market. She knows she stands out. She hears whispers - whispers about an outsider, about someone who has stolen something, that T'Challa needs to  _prove himself._ Wanda covers her face, buys some food from the grocer - the personnel at the store looks at her suspiciously, but she serves her quietly, and Wanda runs. She is thankful that her home is far away from the center. While she is leaving, a man stoops her on the street. She hears him speak in Xhosa, but he talks too fast for her to comprehend. He sees her confusion, and her face, before switching.

"Where is the flower store?"

Wanda paused. She doesn't look up. "I do not know."

"Where did you get that, then?"

"I grew it. I have a garden in my home."

"Oh. Thank you." He turns to leave, and Wanda swears she isn't thinking for a second, when she says "Wait."

He turns and looks at her.

"I do not need these. You can have them, if you would like."

The man stops. She sees him ponder for a moment, before reaching his hand out "If it is no trouble..."

"It isn't." Wanda reaches, out and places them in his hands. He smiles at her, before taking some coins out of his pocket.

"No! I couldn't possible accept-"

"Take it. It is the least I can do. Besides, my father will think that I stole it if I still have the money."

"Thank you." She says, sincerely. She slips the coins into the small pouch in her basket.

"No, no" he replies. "You saved me so much time." Wanda smiles, before turning and heading out.

On the seventh day, she goes out to the garden again, with her beads. She spends time among the flowers, beading and weaving, with her red and without. Her red doesn't really need her to direct it all the time - she can, she can always control it, but if she lets it rest, it does as it pleases - and she makes many bracelets when before she makes only a few. She stacks them all, neatly, in the front where the store is. She wonders if, maybe, Shuri's idea of a business might work. Not long after she sits for lunch, her bracelet vibrates. She sees a monitor rise up above it - and words spill across the screen.

_Hide. Do not come out. If you must, leave. You are not safe. There is a new king._

Wanda's heart stutters, and she leans over the table. Her red, jumps out and coats the front and back door, hiding all entrances.

_You are not safe, you are not safe, you are not safe, do not let down your guard, you are not safe, you are alone, you are not safe_

Wanda sits on the chair and holds her breath. Her scarlet shakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finding Wanda's voice in this chapter was genuinely difficult. Please tell me if I did it any justice!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T'Challa makes his move. Wanda follows him.

Wanda is terrified. 

Se feels like a child again, yelping at every sound, but she can't stop. She feels like she is trapped in her old home again, except Pietro isn't there, and she is all alone. She feels like there is something ticking ticking ticking, and everything seems to drag on and on and on. She reflexively checks every corner of the house, no one needs to be inside. 

Hours pass. Day bleeds into night which bleeds into day again and Wanda sits. She rolls the ball between her fingers - back and forth. It keeps her here, keeps everything from becoming dust. When night falls again, she hears four terse knock against the door. Her heart stops, and she peers slowly through the glass. Someone is standing there, but she can't see who. She calls her red together, and opens the door, before taking a small peek. Shuri. Shuri is there.

Behind her is Ramonda with T'Challa besides her, alongside a white man. Shuri whispers "We need to come in!" and Wanda opens the door. They file in, one by one, and sit on her table. There isn't a seat for T'Challa and Wanda sees him stand awkwardly in the corner of the kitchen. Ramonda and T'Challa's eyes dart around the room, to the red pulsing through the walls and snaking through the chairs. Shuri is just breathing, head down on the table. The man is standing awkwardly in the corner, looking at them all.

"What is wrong?"

T'Challa looks up "A foreigner has come into Wakanda and taken up the throne."

"And he has destroyed almost all of the heart shaped herb." Shuri adds.

"Heart shaped herb?"

"It is a plant." Ramonda says "That has been passed down through our family. It tends to strengthen anyone who uses it on themselves. Killmonger burned them all, and T'Challa has the last one coursing through his veins."

"That is a shame."

"Mm. T'Challa plans to challenge him at dawn. Is it fine if we stay here until then?"

"I would hardly disallow you."

"Good."

Wanda pauses for a moment. "There is no bed. I had planned on buying new bedding, but well. Not enough time."

"That is fine." T'Challa says calmly. "We can sleep on the floor for one night, yes?"

Shuri nods, eyes dropping. T'Challa picks her up and leads her to the bedroom where he lays her down to sleep. She dozes off almost immediately. Ramonda settles herself next to her, and T'Challa stands. Wanda watches from the kitchen.

"Go. Sleep. I will stand guard tonight." 

"If you need help, wake me up. My red will try and help you."

"Very well."

Wanda sits on the kitchen floor, and the harsh tile hurts her skin.

"So um. You've been invited here too?"

"Yes." Wanda tuns to look at him "Who are you?" 

"Ross. Everett Ross. Curious to see you, of all people, in Wakanda."

"I suppose. I could say the same to you."

"Yeah. Yeah I suppose so."

She turns and heads to the storefront instead.

Ross turns to her "Just a question. When you are asleep, does your magic act up?"

Wanda falters "I... do not know. I have never let it out like this before."

"Never?"

"In Sokovia, the guards were scared when they saw it. The Avengers were similar. I though it best to keep it close."

"Well, okay." The man looks a tad shaken for a second, before stiffening. "Goodnight Ms. Maximoff."

Wanda leaves and lays her head down, and sleeps.

* * *

The next morning, Shuri rouses her. 

"-ake up! We need to go!"

There is pounding somewhere. Wanda jerks up, before her red roars in response. Wanda runs out of the door, and she sees a man in an orange suit punching T'Challa, with several other burly men following in his lead. T'Challa is moving, fighting, and Wanda just stands there for a second, before thrusting her magic out like a spear. The men behind the orange suited man turn towards her, and they charge. Wanda knocks them all back, before one of them shoots at her. Wanda's red stutters for a moment, before a bright blue shot meets it midair, and it burns out. Shuri is standing there, repulsers out, firing at anything that moves, while Ross is shooting at people with his own repulser. T'Challa yells out "Move!" Before he lets out a large sphere of purple power, and they all fall back. Shuri grabs Wanda's hand, and they follow,with T'Challa falling behind them. Wanda holds up a barrier behind them, while blue energy meets it. Ramonda is ahead, and T'Challa is behind, and Shuri and Ross run alongside her. 

The rural fields soon give way to tall towering structures and the glistening castle. Ramonda grabs her and they duck behind some foliage.

"It would not do to see the king with a foreigner, at least not out in the open."

"Ah."

"Killmonger I challenge you for the throne!"

Wanda watches Killmonger's blase reaction, and the armies collide. A small army of red clad women clash against the men wearing loose blue clothing. Then another group of warriors run in from the forest, bones clattering around their bodies. Wanda sees T'Challa and Killmonger fall into a cavern at the center of the city, as they throw punches at each other. Shuri is blasting at the men strewn about, alongside several other warriors.

When it is all over, Wanda watches as T'Challa takes his position as king. She stays only long enough for everyone's eyes to be drawn away, before running back home. 

Later, as the sun sets, her bracelet vibrates and the screen pops up  _Where are you?_

The bottom of the screen becomes a keyboard. She began tapping out the letters, and she carefully wrote out  _Home. You?_

 _Home as well. I have been trying to replant_ _the last of the heart shaped herb, but it was severely damaged by the fire. T'Challa might be the last Black Panther._

Wanda pauses before slowly typing  _I can make plants grow quickly. If you can't make it grow, perhaps I can._

The interface goes quiet. Wanda stares at it before shrugging, and heading around the house. Wanda has some experience cooking, and she puts together some Paprikash. It does not taste as it should, with the spices heavily altered to fit the spices that are here, but it is something Wanda gets pleasure out of making. When she is eating, she feels vibrations run down her wrist.

_Come to the castle right now._

So Wanda walks. She hikes all the way to the castle in the distance, that is very nearly invisible in the darkness. She does not remember where the entrance is - but she is willing to look. Several red women spot her, and after she points to the bracelet a few times and repeats the words find Shuri, understanding floods their eyes. They tap on their own bracelets, before she follows them into the castle. They go deeper and deeper, until she is standing in a lab in front of Shuri. 

"The seed is here."

Wanda walks over, and she sees what Shuri means. The sprout is open and leaking, and if it continues the contents might be lost. Wanda places a single hand on it, and lets her red out, lets it dance with the seedlings and asks it to grow, grow, grow. The red sinks into the soil, glad to help their friend, and Wanda feels the plants struggling, but it leeches at the energy she slowly feeds it. When Wanda opens her eyes, there is a small sprout there, with a single leaf. 

"You did it!" Shuri holds her in a hug, and Wanda smiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since I've seen Black Panther, so forgive me if I get a few details wrong. The story is almost done, with just one chapter left! I also have a couple other things I've written for this, that I might add on as extras.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda finds her footing.

The next day she is called up to the palace. Shuri calls her again, but this time she's supposed to go to her former room. She doesn't know why she was here - Wanda wonders if it has anything to do with the flower.

When she walks in, she sees Vision.

"Vis." Wanda doesn't know what more to say.

"Wanda. Nice to see you." He is still. Wanda doesn't know what he's feeling, and she doesn't know what she's feeling. 

"He wanted to meet you. So... yeah." Silence. "I'll... just be outside. You can call me when you're done." Shuri hurried out of the room, a quiet click echoing through the room when the door closes.

"How are you?"

"I am doing well. Thank you." 

Wanda didn't know what to say, what to do. She didn't know what she wanted to say. Her lips were drying and the silence was squeezing her alive. Suddenly she felt aching, bone-deep tiredness.

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Tell you what?"

"That I was detained. Held prisoner. In the tower"

"I-Mr. Stark had told me not to, and after that I concluded it would be best for you to keep it a secret. You were mourning your brother, and I did not want you to act in a way that you would come to regret."

"And why did you not let me make that decision for myself?"

"Innocent bystanders might have been risked if I had."

"The ones in the tower?" Wanda wants to cry, or scream, or collapse. She can't think.

"We were afraid you'd react poorly. And it was not an entirely incorrect assumption to make."

"How long did you expect to hold me for?"

"As long as it took for the general public to calm down."

She feels betrayal uncoil in her belly, feels her stomach clench in rage, and fury, and her scarlet must be swirling around her. "So however long you wanted. I would be jailed there... for however long you thought was needed."

"We never intended for it to be permanent."

"But it might have been." There was a heavy pause there, as that sat in the air.

"I cannot dispute that."

"No. I suppose you can't."

There was a pause there. The silence echoed, echoed, echoed. Wanda could feel herself slipping backwards - back up. She took out the tiny ball, and squeezed it. The warm plastic felt like clay, rolling through her hands.

"I wish you hadn't pushed me through the Tower. I didn't - I couldn't bear the feeling of - not being able to control myself."

Wanda paused. She remembered her rage, the feeling coursing through her, the feeling of _trapped trapped trapped_. She felt a small burst of shame and took a breathe. "I did not think. I felt... betrayed. I shouldn't have reacted as I did."

"The floor took a while to rebuild. Thankfully no one was under me."

Wanda couldn't look at him. She cast her eyes to the corner of the room. "I did not think."

"I know."

Wanda closed her eyes "I shouldn't have. I am sorry."

"Yes. I - should have not hidden that from you. I apologize for denying you that."

They sat there, secrets out in the open, air buzzing.

"Wanda, you seem - you distance yourself. Are you alright?"

"Yes."

"That is a lie."

"Perhaps." 

"I don't - I never intended to hurt you."

"I know." Wanda does not know what else he wants to speak of. There is nothing left here for them.

"After you'd been in the RAFT for a few weeks I had taken the liberty of trying to find out what it was." Ice plunged through Wanda. Her veins froze, her blood turned into cold water, and her heart was beating so loudly that she could barely hear Vision. "I am sorry. If I'd known before, I swear that I would have never left you there."

"You would have defied the Accords?"

"Yes."

Wanda feels herself drifting, drifting. The warm ball runs through her hands, over and over and over again.

"Then why did you wait?"

"I knew that the Captain was planning a rescue by then, and I did not want to make anything more difficult for him."

"Okay." She said. "Okay. I - If there's nothing else may you leave?"

"Are you certain?" Vision's face never revealed anything that he didn't want it to. Never. It was almost inhumanly still now, not moving so much a muscle.

"If you would like - and if the princess allows - you can visit me at my home. If the princess allows you to see it, then I'll show you now."

"Yes. Yes, I would appreciate that." 

Wanda slips out a small smile.

* * *

After Vision leaves Wanda settles. There is something here... It makes her happy. She is happy here. At peace. Weeks, then months pass in a slow, easy sort of way. She starts a small business, not huge, that sells bouquets and jewelry. It is difficult in the beginning, not many people want to buy from a foreigner, but as time passes, she feels more and more at easy with Wakanda. After a time, most, not all, but most people ignore her. She is just another facet of this part of the country, another person in the community and they do not hesitate to buy her jewelry and her flowers. She finds genuine joy in making her things, in the small items she twists together and places out for people to buy. It takes a while, but she celebrates the day that she can use her only her own money to pay for the week's groceries. In a few more weeks time, she cuts her dependency to the royal family. Shuri had been mock offended the whole time.

Kal'ti keeps coming. She teaches her slowly, teaches her how to avoid the fog that settles on her, and clear her head. Wanda talks to her, slowly, first about Sokovia, then Ultron, then Leipzig, and Vision, and Pietro, and finally, the RAFT. The twisted bundle in her chest, threads of which Wanda cannot even hope to understand, gradually dissolves into cool water. 

Every now and then, Clint will call her. She sees the children, sees Lila and Cooper and little baby Pietro, and she feels happy for him. 

"You look much better now."

Wanda pauses there for half a second "I am content Clint. For the first time in so long, I have peace." 

He smiles at her. "Well, kiddo, it's great to see you so happy." Lila laughs in the background, before running up to the camera "Wanda! Wanda! Look!" She has a small sock puppet, and Wanda laughs at Lila makes it sing. Cooper is rolling his eyes at her, while baby Pietro is clapping his hands.

Wanda wonders if she'll ever get to see him in person, whether she could sneak to America and see Laura and the kids. She hopes that she does.

Vision keeps visiting. His friendship becomes easy, is made up of a hundred little moments that make her happy in a deep and satisfied way. He sees her, sees all of her, and never shies away. And he comes in the back with her, and they sit, knelt over on the soil, and he makes bouquets with her. One day he got her a plant from America - a rosebush. He says it was bred to be sturdier, and Wanda beams when it survives in the Wakandan sun. 

One day, on one of her appointments with Kal'ti, she asks her a question.

"Are you ready?"

Wanda knew what she was talking about. Kal'ti had asked her, a week or two ago, if she would be willing to test one of her triggers.

"This is a way to remove that trigger, or at least desensitize yourself."

Wanda thought about it. She couldn't quite overcome the feeling of fear rising in her - but she wanted it. She wanted to not carry anything that the RAFT gave her - not the serums, nor the clothes, and nor, nor, nor...

nor the scars. Wanda let a breath out slowly.

"Okay."

Kal'ti looked over at her. "I want you to take your hands, and just feel around the rings on the front of your throat."

Wanda raised her fingers. Her red, was there, under her skin, snapping and sparking and burning, and it jumped out into her fingers.

"Now just rub down. From under your chin, as far back as you are comfortable."

Wanda allowed her fingers to rub slow circles, down her neck, until they hugged the back of her neck. She breathed, slowly, evenly, and she felt the fog rising, but she kept pushing her fingers back. She stayed there for a few moments, hands behind her neck, grass under her legs, dress on her skin.

Wanda smiled. Indeed, she was content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have feelings about ScarletVision - but as usual, I love friendships. So that I have written.  
> Also I really want to know how Wanda and Vision reconciled themselves after CA:CW, cause that must have been a tense conversation. This took an age and a half to write, cause there are three main topics I wanted them to talk about - Wanda blasting Vision through the floor, Vision retraining Wanda, and the RAFT. Halfway through, I realized that there is no way Wanda's talking about the RAFT - she doesn't trust Vision at all right now. So this is what I managed to get out.  
> So! It's done! Tell me what you think, and I'd love to read your thoughts!  
> An I have another fic that I’m writing - I don’t know when it’ll be done, but most of it’s written. It’s Clint Barton & Loki, so if that your thing, check it out!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Extra chappie that I wrote.

Wanda felt rage.

She listened to the Captain as he told her about the man who was coming to Earth to kill, to hurt, to take Vision. Shuri laid a single hand on her shoulder, a small sign of support.

Vision sat there, offering up his life, and Wanda didn't want him to.

Hadn't she lost enough?

Her red was whirling around her. The other's on the ship looked at her, afraid.

"Wanda, put that away please." The Captain stared at her, expectation in his eyes.

Vision nudged her "just pull it in. The airmen are scared."

Wanda's lips twitched, before she pulled the red just underneath her skin. She would still be glowing, but well. There was only so much she could do, especially when her rage was this... towering.

Shuri spoke up "I could try to disconnect the Stone from Vision?"

"That would be unwise, if we were pressed for time." Vision stated "With the amount of lives on the line... half of life you said?"

Bruce spoke up "Yeah."

"I could not, in good conscious allow such a risk to be taken. I'm sorry Captain."

Shuri spoke up "How could we destroy it? I only know one thing that is that strong, and well."

Everyone was careful not to meet Wanda's eyes. She could feel the red rising off her in wisps of smoke. 

"Shuri" T'Challa spoke up "You start detaching the Stone. Wanda, stay nearby in case we need to destroy it." He turned and walked to the glass window. "In case the army starts attacking, start destroying it."

Wanda felt like the floor had dropped out from under her "You want me to do it?"

T'Challa turned dark eyes onto her, eyes that knew her pain, but said  _there is somethings more important_ "I am sorry. Your gifts are the only thing that might enable us to destroy it."

She felt herself shake a bit.  _No. Not Vision._

"Wanda. Wanda!" She feels Vision shaking her. "Wanda."

She looks at him "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but please."

Wanda shook. T'Challa looked at her "You did make a promise."

Wanda closed her eyes "I did. I did. I'm so sorry Vis."

He gathered her in his arms "It's not your fault, don't apologize, its not on you, never you, Wanda."

She was crying. And he was shaking. They stood there, for eternity, in a moment, before he was laid on a table. Shuri started moving, started reprogramming him. "We need to have the synapses disconnect from the stone. The mainframe is fighting me, but..." Wanda heard her patter off into unintelligible mumbling. And that was so Shuri, Wanda wanted to cry. 

There was a thud outside. Wanda's heart stopped.

"They're here." Bruce said. 

* * *

They wanted to try and negotiate. Wanda let them stall. She hoped, maybe, just maybe, they'd get out of this...

It didn't work. 

Soon there was Glaive pounding on the door. Wanda made short work of him, and pushed him back.

"Give me the Stone."

Wanda turned around. A man stood there, colored purple, with a golden glove.

"Thanos." Shuri's eyes widened. She was going faster, faster, trying to pull the Stone off. Vision was screaming, and Wanda...

Wanda was angry.

"Give me the stone, and I will spare you."

How dare he. How dare he come into her home, dare to try and take away one of her's, and promise the culling of half, and call it salvation?

She felt the red act.

Thanos is picked up, swept off his feet, limbs splayed about, and Wanda can hear nothing other than the pounding of her heart. She hates him. She hates him, she hates him, she hates him.

She lets her power burn.

It reaches out for the gauntlet, and pulls it off with a deafening snap. Thanos is pressed flat against the roof of the tower, with the stones scattered about. 

"You will try."

She took a flame of her red and thrust it at him. He grabbed the Power Stone within his fist, before a purple blast hit her. Her red came up, an unbreaking seal. He would not best her. He would never.

She saw him falter, and then he was above Vision, blue stone in his hand. Wanda let loose a bit of her magic, a portion that she hadn't used in years, and she slipped in.

They stood at the edge of a cliff, the red sky stretching up far above the. Wanda thinks the sky looks a little like Wakanda's.

"You are in my mind."

Wanda didn't respond. She didn't need to respond. She just needed to wait.

Thanos's eyes went wide. The world faded out, before Wanda stood in Shuri's lab, watching a single knife pierce Thanos's neck. Shuri had taken a blade, ad driven it from his throat to the back of his vertebrate. He was convulsing, fists flying, and a spare one catches her in the chest. Vision twists and Thanos's head cannot move, and Vision is crushing his skull between his hands.

It takes a few minutes, but Wanda fastens his limbs to the floor, and Vision squeezes. He dies, slowly, as his life is painfully pulled out of him. He collapses with a thud. Dead.

Wanda is heaving. Shuri stand up "There is a battle going on outside."

Wanda nods, before taking the scattered Stones with her red and hiding them in a cabinet. Shuri locked it, several times, and Wanda slathers it with her scarlet. She looks up. "Let's go."

She flies across the battlefield, Vision by her side, and Shuri below her. She falls, like a star, and death follows. Whether vines grow and drown them or they turn on their allies while thinking them enemies, or they simple die from the impact. And it is not glorious, it is not exhilarating, but Wanda is dedicated to protecting this place, this land that took her in, and the people that helped her piece herself back together. 

 She does not falter. 

When it is done, when the battle is over, Wanda retreats. She knows that Steve and T'Challa will come looking for her, but her red is barely a flickering flame, and she fears what will happen if it goes out. She sends Shuri a single word, home, before laying her head down and sleeping.

* * *

When she wakes up, Visions hand is on her hair. He fingers the stands there, and Wanda relaxes at his touch.

"We won." 

Wanda exhales, leaning back into his hands "Good." Wanda breathes "Good."

"Shuri wants to see you." He says offhandedly "She said something about making sure you're alright. Natasha did as well. Clint's on the line, she told him about what happened."

Wanda nodded her head, eyes closed, head back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this story kind of grew out of the desire to see the long term affects that being imprisoned like Wanda was would affect someone. In the MCU, she's more or less okay, partially since she was in for such a short time, and partially since we never saw her until years afterwards. This story sees a worse case scenario - a Wanda still struggling with a lot, and how it all comes to a head.


End file.
